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For the person who has secretly dreamed of running away from home . . .

The Pirate Queen is a story that came to me over a decade and in small pieces that finally melded together to form a heroine’s journey.  I had heard a second-hand story about a woman who was about to leave her husband, a man who was a philanderer, only to be told he was terminally ill.  That story embedded in my emotions and eventually my imagination.   But that piece of the story was only a bit of kindling.

Then one night my hubby and I had settled down for a late night bowl of popcorn in front of a PBS show we’ve watched for years called Austin City Limits.  One of our favorite classic rock bands was playing. Okay, we were giddy. But the lead singer sang a song we’d not heard covered before.  The song told a story about  pirates and finding treasure. I grabbed a pen and started journaling. What about my heroine’s life, I thought, was like a pirate desperate to find treasure? What things did she believe were treasure but left her feeling empty? Then what real treasure might she discover along the way to which she would stake a claim and never let go, no matter what it cost her?Those were the early threads that led to the story of Saphora Warren and her Outer Banks journey.

Babe and I have enjoyed our jaunts to the Outer Banks and to the sailing village of Oriental, the town that eventually became the setting for Saphora’s get-away-turned-noose.

The process is as much fun as seeing the final product dressed in a beautiful new cover.  I’m planning a special Pirate’s Booty Prize Give-Away as time draws near.  So stay anchored because some lucky pirate queen will win a basket  of reading treasures.

The Pirate Queen

WaterBrook/Random House Publishers

Release Date: August 10, 2010